Improvement in pliers for closing skirt-clasps



\ used.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

JAMES BECK, or vNEW Yoan, N. Y.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,666, dated June 21,1862.

l To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMEs BECK, of the city,

i county, and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Pliers for j Closing Skirt-Clasps; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description ofthe same, reference being had t0 the accompanying drawings, forming partof this specification, in which.-

Figure 1 is a side View of a pair of pliers withmy improvement, showingone of the dies in section. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same. Fig. 3 isa transverse section of the,

jaws and dies of the same. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of theclasps.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention consists in tting the jaws of a pair of pliers with afiat'male die and a concave rounded female die, by which means inclosing a metallic skirtclasp upon the hoop the lips of the clasp arebrought tighter upon the hoop than by pliers having dies or faces ofother form.

It also consists in the arrangement of the dies in an oblique positionrelatively to the length of the pliers, for the purpose of enabling boththe hoops and tapes to pass thejaws in the operation of closing theclasps.

To enable others tomake and use my invention, I will proceed to describeits construction and operation.

A B are the jaws of the pliers. c is the male die, secured in thejaw A;and b is the female die, secured in thejaw B. The male die a has a fiatface of a width about equal to the width of the hoop c, upon which thepliers are to be The female die b has its cavity sufciently wider thanthe male die to admit the thickness of the metal of which the clasp iscomposed on either side of it, and has the bottom of the cavity ofsemicircular or nearly semicircular form, as shown in Fig. 3.

rlhe metallic clasp d has a [iat head ol' a width slightly greater thanthat of the hoop c, and has its lips 5 5 of taper form and pointed, asshown in Fig. 4.

In using these pliersthe hoop is slipped through the pocket of the tape,and the clasps, with theirlips set at right angles to their backs,

have their lips inserted through the tape, one

on each side of the hoop. rlhe nippers lare then lopened for thereception of the hoop and tape, and placed over the latter with the maledie over the tlat back of the clasp` and the female die bin a positionto receive the lips thereof', and then by closing the nippers theconcave surface of the/female die is made to close the lips 5 5 upon thehoop, the points always passing each other, and the lips being thusbrought side by side. In this operation the lips slide so easily in theconcave surface of the die that they never fail to be brought close andtight upon the hoop, while the dat male die brings the back of the claspclose up to its place. I

The effect of the oblique arrangement of the dies in the pliers isillustrated in Fig. 2-that is to say, the nippers are enabled to reachhalfway across the widest tapes and the hoops are at the same timeenabled to pass through or between the jaws.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,isr l. 'The combination, in the pliers, of the flat male die aand theconcave rounded female die b, substantially as herein specified.

2. The arrangement of the dies obliquely to the length ot' the pliers,substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

JAMES BECK.

Witnesses:

O. D. MUNN, JAMEs LAIRD.

